That same night, Carr conducted his final interview with Edward Snowden, journalist Glenn Greenwald and director Laura Poitras on the subject of "Citizen Four," a documentary charting Snowden's decision to leak classified documents on the NSA's spying program to the media. The panel discussion was part of the newspaper's popular "TimesTalk" series and lasted roughly an hour.

One of Carr's final columns, published Jan. 30, examined Snowden and Greenwald's place in journalism and the increasingly blurred line between reporter and activist.